Workers from South Asia are heading to Israel, whose demand for labor has become tighter since the Hamas-led attacks in October.
The Israeli government has closed the crossings from the West Bank, putting thousands of Palestinians out of work, and many of the foreign workers Israel relies on to run the farms and construction industry have been left behind. Most of the roughly 30,000 foreign agricultural workers in Israel are from Thailand, dozens of whom were kidnapped or killed in Oct. 7.
In the coming weeks, thousands of people from India and Sri Lanka will be sent to Israel, officials in the three countries said, as part of agreements to provide workers, mainly in construction, health care and agriculture. Both India and Sri Lanka are suffering high unemploymentand officials say they have received thousands of applications for construction jobs in Israel.
Mukesh Ranjan, a construction worker in the northern Indian state of Haryana, said that despite the danger presented by the war in Gaza, he and dozens of others from his village applied for jobs in construction through a state government agency, which said it received. more than 2,500 applications.
Mr. Ranjan said that if elected, he would use the salary for better education for his two teenage daughters and to pay off the debt incurred due to the loss on his farm.
“I’ll jump at the chance,” he said.
Recruitment is part of an agreement reached in May between India and Israel that will grant permits to 42,000 Indian workers, Indian news media reported. About 34,000 workers will work in construction and 8,000 in health care.
About 10,000 Sri Lankan workers are already working in Israel, mainly as caregivers in the health care sector. Bandula Gunawardena, a Sri Lankan government minister, said the country entered into an agreement with Israel in November to send more agricultural workers and the first group had already traveled there.
The recruitment in South Asia is not intended to fill the gap left by Palestinian workers but is part of filling existing quotas for foreign workers, Israeli officials said.
Inbal Mashash, the director of foreign worker management at Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, said that Israel’s economy is under pressure because of the departure of foreign workers, more Israeli reservists are being called up for service military and restrictions on Palestinians entering from the West Bank.
“There is no doubt that the economy is experiencing a kind of crisis right now in terms of manpower,” he said.
Representatives from the Israel Builders Association, a private organization, said they are screening workers in India for construction jobs, and that screenings will soon begin in Sri Lanka, where thousands have applied.
Before October 7, about 80,000 Palestinian workers were working in the construction industry in Israel, said Shay Pauzner, a deputy director for the builders’ association. They were joined by 18,000 foreigners from Eastern Europe and China, and another 200,000 Israelis.
Overall, the number of Palestinian workers entering Israel from the West Bank each day has dropped to about 8,000 from 124,000 before October 7, said Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for COGAT, the defense agency of Israel oversees policy for the Palestinian territories.
In India, there is some opposition to recruiting. The country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has drawn closer to Israel, with which it now shares extensive defense ties, but has also long supported Palestinian rights.
K. Hemalata, the president of the Construction Workers Federation of India, said he was concerned that Israel was using Indian workers to dispossess Palestinians. “We are totally against it,” he said.
But Ms. Mashash, of Israel’s immigration authority, said foreign workers “are not replacing Palestinian workers,” whose work permits have not been revoked.
Jonathan Reiss and Pamodi Waravita contributed reporting.
